Frederick Douglass and the Movement for Liberation

This video is worth your time.

Famed orator, abolitionist, and writer Frederick Douglass was one of history's greatest champions of individual liberty and equal rights for all.

Robert McDonald is an Assistant Professor of History at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This lecture was recorded on July 27, 2011 at Cato University in Annapolis, Maryland.

Peter Orszag, meet F.A. Hayek

Peter Orszag, Barack Obama's former OMB director:

In an 1814 letter to John Taylor, John Adams wrote that “there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” That may read today like an overstatement, but it is certainly true that our democracy finds itself facing a deep challenge: During my recent stint in the Obama administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, it was clear to me that the country’s political polarization was growing worse—harming Washington’s ability to do the basic, necessary work of governing. If you need confirmation of this, look no further than the recent debt-limit debacle, which clearly showed that we are becoming two nations governed by a single Congress—and that paralyzing gridlock is the result.

So what to do? To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic.

F.A. Hayek (The Road to Serfdom):

It may be the unanimously expressed will of the people that its parliament should prepare a comprehensive economic plan, yet neither the people nor its representatives need therefore be able to agree on any particular plan. The inability of democratic assemblies to carry out what seems to be a clear mandate of the people will inevitably cause dissatisfaction with democratic institutions. Parliaments come to be regarded as 'talking shops,' unable or incompetent to carry out the tasks for which they've been chosen.

Freedom in Kentucky

I had an opportunity to speak with the authors of the new Mercatus Center report, "Freedom in the 50 States." Here's the audio:

Jason Sorens


William Ruger

As you're probably aware, Kentucky landed in the bottom half of the rankings among the states. The advice the authors gave to Kentucky policymakers was fairly simple:

• Tighten the rules for municipal-bond issuance and cut spending, particularly on grants to local school districts and employee compensation (repeal the prevailing-wage law), in order to retire debt.
• Reduce homeschool recordkeeping requirements to a simple record of attendance, like Indiana and Tennessee require.
• Dramatically raise contribution limits for grassroots PACs and individuals.

Interestingly, what brought Kentucky down was its score in economic freedom, where the state ranked 34th overall. The authors noted that Kentucky's fiscal structure means a large share of tax revenues go through Frankfort rather than through local governments.

There is no immediately compelling reason why Frankfort should be charged with collecting and spending such a large share of the commonwealth's total government revenues. It serves to prevent local government innovation in the delivery of services since Frankfort plays a greater role in funding and therefore controlling the direction of local projects. It also means that localities receive muted incentives to compete for a greater share of area populations through varying tax rates, service provision and local amenities.

Atlas shrugging at a theater near you this Friday!

A few weeks ago I got a chance to watch a sneak preview for the first installment of a film trilogy based on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I did not have high hopes for the adaptation, given that much of the "action" in the gargantuan novel occurs in the heads of characters, the heads of characters who can outwardly appear to be emotionless.

I was very pleasantly surprised with the film. It captures about as much of the book's essence as anyone should have expected and set up the rest of the trilogy quite well. If you are a fan of the book but also appreciate the high wire act required of anyone who might dare to adapt it to film, I think you'd enjoy it.

You'll have exactly that chance this Friday. The film opens April 15 (har har har!) and will debut in (so far) five Kentucky theaters:

Bowling Green
Great Escape Greenwood Mall 10
323 Great Escape Drive, Bowling Green, KY 42101

Lexington
Regal Hamburg Pavilion 16
1949 Starshoot Pkwy, Lexington, KY 40509

Louisville
Cinemark Tinseltown USA
4400 Towne Center Drive, Louisville, KY 40241

Rave Motion Pictures Stonybrook 20
2745 S Hurstbourne Pkwy, Louisville, KY 40220

Newport
AMC Newport on the Levee 20
1 Levee Way, Newport, KY 41071

I hope you are able to make it on opening night!

Taking liberty to the airwaves: BIPPS opposes meth proposal on WKYU-PBS

Jim Waters, Bluegrass Institute vice president of policy and communications, will appear on "Outlook," a public affairs television program hosted by Barbara Deeb on WKYU-PBS to discuss legislative proposals to make pseudoephedrine -- used to make the dangerous drug methamphetamine -- a controlled substance requiring a prescription for purchase.

Tommy Loving, director of the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task force, was the other guest on the program, which airs on Sunday, Feb. 20, at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. (CST).